Strong Passwords 14

Strong Passwords 14

Strong Password

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Thesis Statement

I here intend to show the meaning and significance of a strong password in this realm of hacking mechanisms. The idea behind this paper is to stress on the distinction between a “normal” or otherwise called a weak password and a “strong” password. Various methods and ways of generating a strong password are clearly defined in my paper and a synthesized approach is presented for the realization of password security.

Introduction

Passwords are basically a reflector of true identity. The stronger it is, the better it becomes in terms of security. The choice lays with an individual on deciding his/her password. Now, he may invariably keep it direct and unprotected or may take the other road by keeping a strong password as a combination of letters and numbers. While defining a strong password, it can be said that it incorporates a random production of ideas that are sufficient in length and cannot be reproduced by someone else by mere guesses. It can only be reproduced by its creator. The security of a password is in the hands of its inventor. However, it is always recommended that a password should be complicated and a blend of letters and frozen numbers, which are random in nature. (Minnesota, 2009), (Security Awareness, 2009)

There can also be a subtle use of varied symbols in a password. This will ensure its strength and security and will make the password lengthy and more complicated. The hackers are smart people, who are manually designed to guess the passwords and break the mystery through various software. Hacking a small password is a second’s job for them. Therefore, it becomes all the more important for an individual to take due care while structuring a password. (Minnesota, 2009), (Security Awareness, 2009)

The minimum length recommended for a strong password is alteast 14 characters. However, one can go for a password of his/her choice. A composition of letters, numbers and symbols can be opted as this will make the task of hacking difficult and a tedious one. While an individual can make use of all the keys present on the keyboard while making a password, yet there are certain programs that might restrict the password to some given choices of characters. In such a situation, the restrictions must be made the best use of. (Minnesota, 2009)

Also, in case a particular program or a site is case sensitive, while choosing a password, one may opt for a blended composition of the upper case and lower case letters. A few symbols may also be added with the same. The foremost thing that must be kept in mind while framing a password is that “proper words” must be duly avoided as it is in the skills of the hackers to try every word possible to extract the actual password and play mischief. It is also in the benefit of an individual, to not try either only alphabets or only numbers, as this will also ensure hacker’s success to some extent. Strong passwords are not only legitimately suggested, but also work wonders in evading the hacker’s trap whenever challenged. (Minnesota, 2009)

The strength of a password have always been talked of by the professionals and other experienced people, but still no concrete material and thesis has been found till date. Simply speaking, the strength of a password is an evaluated measure of a password’s effectiveness so as to resist the “brute force attacks” by the hacker’s along with their guessing mechanism. In other words, it undertakes the estimation of the number of trials that would be required by an attacker to perform an accurate task of guessing the password. It is therefore, defined as a synchronized function randomness, length and complexity. (Minnesota, 2009)

Significance of a strong password

In this era of computer technology, hackers have gained momentum in the field of password cracking. Every day we hear about the fallacies taking place in the world of internet. It is all linked with the hacking mechanisms and other such password tracking softwares. Therefore, it has become vital to frame a strong password that is beyond the reach of these hackers. These days, there are several programs available on password cracking. Also, since passwords are considered to be the “key of access” for several applications and systems, they must be duly taken care of and must be protected undoubtedly. Framing of a strong password reduces the chance of guesswork that is performed by the password hackers and other hacking mechanisms in a shorter duration. (ITCWeb Mobile, 2009), (Home Computer Security, 2002)

Evading the unauthorized access on an individual’s electronic account is the purpose which is suitably defined in a strong password. It basically restricts the entry of an intruder into your account by making the password all the more difficult and hard to guess. The automated attacks are also prevented with the assistance of a strong password. The only pre-requisite for such a profitable deal is to ensure that the password is made with a random thought and is a blended composition of alphabets, numbers and symbols. The idea behind this is to make the password highly complicated and uniquely different. The growing crimes and mala fide actions of the people are (ITCWeb Mobile, 2009)

It is generally seen that most people today, use the same password for different sites and programs. It is either because of the lack of time and patience in making another password or because of the ease of learning only one password for all the programs. The reason might be any, but the consequence is adverse for everyone as once the account is hacked, many wrong doings can take place on account of the account holder. Therefore strong passwords are of immense significance for anyone and everyone present on this planet. (ITCWeb Mobile, 2009), (Strong Passwords, 2010)

Difference between a strong and a weak password

A strong password is derived out of a combination of different keys inscribed on the keyboard. It is a perpetual rising of a protected cover, which serves the need of security very well. The accumulation of thoughts and long lasted words doesn’t work in a strong password. In contrast to a strong password, a weak password is the one that is easily tracked by an individual or a password hacking mechanism. The following example relates to the idea of a weak password:

 Proper words such as “house”, “human”, “make money”, “strong”, “pass”, “infinite” etc are easily guessed by the hackers as these words are all located in their dictionary and not even a single word is left by them, while undergoing the task of guessing.

 Names must never be made use of while forming a password as this is the weakest link that is easily caught by the password hackers. The first guesswork made by them is by putting the middle and the full names. Therefore, this is characterized as a weak password.

 Using only the alphabets or only the numbers also comes under the category of “weak passwords”.

 Another type that is characterized as a weak password is the usage of either the continuous top keys or the bottom ones. For instance, “wertyuiop” is a password comprised of the continuous keys existing in the top row of the keyboard.

(How to Choose a Strong Password)

Hacker’s role outlining the significance of strong passwords

Hacker’s are the smartest lot present on this planet as from the past few years, a lot of password and account hacking cases have been opened, but there was no closing to it. This was because these hackers are professionals and are therefore difficult to be caught. They carry along with them various hacking instruments and other related software. These hackers increase the importance of “strong passwords” as every now and then some or the other account and program is being hacked, which creates a lot of chaos. (Minnesota, 2009)

By sending mala fide mails to the people, the hackers try and play their hands on safely to track their passwords and other personal information. These fake emails seem like coming from various common sites such as eBay, any University site, or even PayPal. People get trapped by in such a sharp plan and get goaded with the same. Most of them actually provide their personal information on such websites, making the task of the hackers all the more easier and subtle. They do not understand that their personal information can be made wrong use of by the person at the other side. Therefore, strong passwords and careful insights to the viewed websites is essential and strongly recommended by the researchers. (Minnesota, 2009)

The techniques used by the hackers are also improving day by day and getting more and more sophisticated. People must not forget that they are professionals in the field of hacking. Therefore, due awareness about the hackers is a must to protect one’s self from getting into the next trap created by the hackers. The best solution for being on a safer side is to change the password frequently and the password framed should be such that no second person is able to reproduce it. The hackers not only restrict their path of crime to password trapping, rather they even turn a program into ridiculous zombie after taking over an individual’s account or the computer. This renders them free to perform various notorious and troublesome tasks such sending spams to n individual or a group of individuals. (Minnesota, 2009)

Beware of the clever hackers as they are there to give you the sleepless nights and test your patience endlessly. They are smart enough to enroll in a cyber café to see the movement of your fingers and track your password by this sharp effort. You will not get to know their running tricks and your password will be taken over by them in seconds. Therefore, there is no way out by which these hackers can be trapped by you or the high commission. You can be the savior by taking precautions and being safe enough on the very first go. (Minnesota, 2009)

Ways of generating a strong password

Since a strong password is a better indicator of one’s identity, the awareness must be created among all and it must reach the public strongly. Once people are aware of the need to create a strong password, they can adapt various means and ways to generate one. Strong passwords can be generated by mixing random symbols or by combining random letters and numbers along with the symbols. This can be explained by a clear example. If an individual likes the sentence, “You are genious”, he can make use of that in a password and can derive a strong and lengthy password out of it. All he needs to do it is that various symbols can be added in the sentence and both the upper case and lower case can be made use of for generating a strong password. The result can be “YOU1&are2$$gEniUS***3”. Now this is a combination of the sentence given above, a few numbers and symbols. There hasn’t been anything great done to the sentence. People may play with all the encored keys as long as the password is duly remembered by its creators. (Oyston, 2010), (How to Choose a Strong Password), (Reasoner)

An individual may also go with another way that complementarily considers two words of the same group, for instance, “cloth and needle”. This can be something different and out of the box, which may in turn generate a strong password, making it impossible for the hackers to track the same. These two words may be suitably divided with a punctuation mark in between such as ‘?’ or ‘/’ etc, the final result being “cloth?needle”. This can be further modified by changing trhe cases at different positions which are easy to remember. For instance, it can be written as “cloth?nEEdle”. Furthermore, the occasional letters can be changed to those numbers which are easy to recall and relate to that letter in some way or the other. For instance, “T” can be replaced by “7” and “O” can be replaced by a “0”, as all these characters look alike. This can improve the strength of the password invariably. (Oyston, 2010), (How to Choose a Strong Password)

Password security realization

In order to claim who one really is, passwords play a significant role. A true identity is given to the people with the help of the passwords. But what if the passwords are hacked by someone else and the other individual identifies him as the one whose password is hacked? It calls for a tough situation which in turn gives rise to a heated debate. Moreover, in order to protect the network, the user and the workstation, it becomes essential to realize the concept of password security. (Password Security), (Security Awareness, 2009)

The realization of password security extends to the fact that nowadays people incredibly rely on others and share their passwords with their closed ones. They do not realize that a slightest mistake can lead to bars and can offer them imprisonment. This is the reason that even the websites are more concerned and alert about the security of one’s passwords. There are myriad techniques such as captcha, which is taken up by the website authority to confirm that the password is being created and used carefully, time and again. People are required to enter the code given in order to confirm that the password holder is not fake. However, a little hope is expected from such a thoughtful technique as well as the hackers are hardly caught by them. (Password Security)

Conclusion

Therefore, after all the hustle and bustle of the hackers seen these days and after the systematic evaluation of hacker crimes, it is time now to understand the utter significance of strong passwords and its immediate need in this world of computers. The crimes of hacking and password tracking wont stop and therefore it is upto an individual to keep himself safe and secure by creating a strong password and changing it time and again.